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A panel featuring Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Carlos Sada, right, and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson fields questions from moderator and U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, on Thursday during the 2016 U.S.-Mexico Border Summit. MARK LAMBIE/EL PASO TIMES

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson delivers her opening remarks Thursday before taking part in a panel discussion with Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Carlos Sada. The panel was moderated by U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, during the 2016 U.S.-Mexico Border Summit at the Judson F. Williams Convention Center. MARK LAMBIE/EL PASO TIMES

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U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson delivers her opening remarks Thursday before taking part in a panel discussion with Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Carlos Sada. The panel was moderated by U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, during the 2016 U.S.-Mexico Border Summit at the Judson F. Williams Convention Center.(Photo: MARK LAMBIE/EL PASO TIMES)Buy Photo

Border communities must present a unified voice and take charge of the discussion to change negative perceptions of the region, political and business leaders said during the first day of the 2016 U.S.-Mexico Border Summit.

The U.S. and Mexican ambassadors also stressed the need for infrastructure improvements.

“There could not be a more important time for us to be able to effectively share our message,” said U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso. “The U.S.-Mexico relationship fundamentally is being questioned in this country and is under attack, with calls to separate ourselves from our historic neighbor, partner and ally.”

The U.S.-Mexico border has been used as a source of negative political rhetoric by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on several occasions during his campaign. He has made controversial comments about Mexican immigrants and has said he wants to build a “bigger” wall between the two countries, among other statements.

“Candidates misrepresent and demonize the border,” El Paso businessman Woody Hunt said, adding that the perception of the 2,000-mile border region needs to change and border communities must take the lead.

“We have a perception/reality issue between the way the rest of the country views the border and the value of the border, our relationships and their own self-interests,” Hunt said. “We need to change this gap between perception and the reality.”

Hunt said having the summit and bringing leaders from other border cities together will help create a consensus and strategies to take charge of eliminating that gap. He also said building political consensus and adopting policies and regulations that allow the region to fulfill its competitive potential will aid in the efforts to change those perceptions.

“There’s no silver bullet. It’s trying to build scale and begin to use that scale to better communicate to leaders, political leaders and hopefully get to a point where politicians don’t use the ‘gap’ we have allowed to be created for their own self-interest. When they do that, they are making that gap worse by continuing to represent the border for their own gain,” Hunt said.

The summit, organized by the Borderplex Bi-National Economic Alliance Foundation, drew local business leaders, educators, elected officials from the city and county, and dignitaries from the U.S. and Mexico, as well as leaders from border communities in Arizona, California and Texas. Thursday's event took place at the Judson F. Williams Convention Center.

The ambassadors from the U.S. and Mexico emphasized the need for quality infrastructure while maintaining security.

“There are very few borders that are this long and this complicated,” U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson said.

Jacobson said issues along the northern and southern borders of the U.S. are very similar.

“It’s a lack of infrastructure and who we think is better,” Jacobson said. She said in both cases, when an improvement to infrastructure occurs, volume increases.

Jacobson said innovative programs are being used, but the move to establish an interchangeable pass that can be used at border crossings needs to be done more quickly.

“We are getting there,” she said.

Mexican Ambassador Carlos Sada said resources need to be better utilized in order to strengthen infrastructure, while also maintaining security and law enforcement — which he said are key characteristics to a smart border.

“What’s being done at the local level is fundamental, but they need to be adopted by Washington and Mexico City,” Sada said.

Panelists shared ideas that might help develop cohesion between border cities from Texas to California.

Mike Gonzalez, executive director of United Brownsville — a coordinating board comprised of private and city officials — said because border communities share similar dynamics, an effort should be made to establish a regional workforce development plan in partnership with educational institutions.

The panelists also brainstormed ways of developing best practices, as well as educational outreach about the border that shares facts about trade. They also discussed possibly creating a unified plan that could help streamline meeting border crossings' infrastructure and capital improvement needs.

Marissa Walker, senior vice president of the Arizona Commerce Authority, said many people in other parts of the country do not realize the origins of some of the products or produce they use and consume.

“If you don’t get out there and adjust the narrative, it will be adjusted for you,” Walker said.

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A panel featuring Mexican Ambassador to the U.S. Carlos Sada, right, and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson fields questions from moderator and U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-El Paso, on Thursday during the 2016 U.S.-Mexico Border Summit.(Photo: MARK LAMBIE/EL PASO TIMES)

The summit continues Friday in Juárez and concludes with an international 10K run.